PIRATES PAIR AGAIN SCUPPERED BY A BEARS DUO

The Poole pairing of Richard Lawson and Ben Cook had an opportunity to avenge for the club's Championship Pairs defeat by Redcar last year when the two clubs went head to head in the semi-final of this year's competition.
 

Cook and Lawson had narrowly avoided elimination when they achieved a 5-4 advantage over Scunthorpe ( Ryan Douglas and Simon Lambert) with both pairings completing their heats on 17 points. But that tally was enough to give Poole the final semi final berth when Redcar and hosts Oxford both finished their heats with 25 points and Glasgow accumulated 23.
Redcar won the toin coss to earn the right to face Poole in the first sem-final and although Poole momentarily the vital second and third positions behind leader Charles Wright , former Poole skipper Danny King worked his way into second place to end the Pirates' dreams.
Redcar though couldnt replicate last year's success as the Glasgow partnership of Ben Basso and Chris Harris had kept out Lewis Kerr in the second semi final to make it a Tigers versus Bears final. 
Harris, unquestionably the star of the show,then did enough to split the Redcar pairing to clinch the title and leave Danny King a runners-up for the second successive season.

SGB Championship Pairs Final (Oxford) Friday 1st September 2023
Ht 1 Chris Harris, Ben Cook, Ben Basso, Richard Lawson(rtd) [GL 6-PO 3]
Ht 2 Sam Masters, Lewis Kerr, Josh Pickering, Craig Cook [OX 7-ED 2]
Ht 3 Jye Etheridge, Justin Sedgmen, Leon Flint, Troy Batchelor(rtd) [BE 6-BI 3]
Ht 4 Danny King, Charles Wright, Ryan Douglas, Jake Allen [RE 7-SC 2]
Ht 5 Ben Basso, Chris Harris, Kyle Howarth, Richie Worrall [GL 7-PL 2]
Ht 6 Lewis Kerr, Sam Masters, Ben Cook, Richard Lawson [OX 7-PO 2]
Ht 7 Justin Sedgmen, Josh Pickering, Craig Cook, Troy Batchelor [ED 5-BI 4]
Ht 8 Jake Allen, Ryan Douglas, Leon Flint, Jye Etheridge [SC 7-BE 2]
Ht 9 Danny King, Charles Wright, Kyle Howarth, Richie Worrall [RE 7-PL 2]
Ht 10 Lewis Kerr, Chris Harris, Ben Basso, Sam Masters [GL 5-OX 4]
Ht 11 Ryan Douglas, Justin Sedgmen, Troy Batchelor, Jake Allen [BI 5-SC 4]
Ht 12 Ben Cook, Richard Lawson, Kyle Howarth, Richie Worrall [PO 7-PL 2]
Ht 13 Josh Pickering, Leon Flint, Jye Etheridge, Craig Cook [BE 5-ED 4]
Ht 14 Charles Wright, Ben Basso, Chris Harris, Danny King [GL 5-RE 4]
Ht 15 Ryan Douglas, Richard Lawson, Ben Cook, Jake Allen [PO 5-SC 4]
Ht 16 Lewis Kerr, Sam Masters, Jye Etheridge, Leon Flint [OX 7-BE 2]
Ht 17 Richie Worrall, Josh Pickering, Kyle Howarth, Craig Cook [PL 6-ED 3]
Ht 18 Charles Wright, Danny King, Justin Sedgmen, Troy Batchelor [RE 7-BI 2]
GROUP TOTALS
Qualifying Scorers Glasgow 23 (C.Harris 12/B.Basso 11) Poole 17 (R.Lawson 6/B.Cook 11) Oxford 25 (S.Masters 10/L.Kerr 15) Edinburgh 14 (L.Killeen 2/J.Pickering 12) Birmingham 14 (T.Batchelor 2/J.Sedgmen 12) Berwick 15 (L.Flint 7/J.Etheridge 8) Scunthorpe 17 (R.Douglas 13/S.Lambert 4) Redcar 25 (C.Wright 14/D.King 11) Plymouth 12 (K.Howarth 8/M.Perry 4) 

S/F1 Charles Wright, Danny King, Richard Lawson, Ben Cook [RE 7-PO 2]
S/F2 Sam Masters, Ben Basso, Chris Harris, Lewis Kerr [GL 5-OX 4]
FINAL Ben Basso, Charles Wright, Chris Harris, Danny King [GL 6-RE 3]